translator: Oyen editor: Ciel
Although Shen He adjusted his mentality quickly, the rumours on the internet still upset him a little.
It was true that he lost the team’s hard won blood advantage in today’s tiebreaker game. However, because of this, many of Mojue’s fans felt that Shen He was dragging the team’s hind legs. Some even mocked him on Weibo: “You still have the nerve to smile despite losing the game; you shouldn’t be called Monkey God. Calling you a silly monkey seems more appropriate.”
“It’s such a pity. God Han and sister Hong fought for such a good advantage in the early games, but you actually gave it away to Nie Yuzhu. You really are a disgrace to your master.”
Most of the comments on Weibo were aimed at him. Occasionally, a few fans would jump out to defend him, but they would quickly be drowned under the netizens’ curses.
Mojue had won two championships thus far, and everyone’s expectations for Mojue were very high. Naturally, they would look for someone to take the blame in such a situation. The fans needed an outlet to vent, so they pointed their fingers at him, which was also very normal. However, seeing those hateful comments still upset Shen He a little.
Shen He turned off his mobile phone, tossing and turning about on the bed, unable to sleep.
The players who were the great gods of today… before they ascended, did they face these sorts of trials as well?
Back then, when his master lost in the competition, not only did he get scolded harshly by fans, grandmaster had even taught him a lesson. Before god Han became a first-class player, he had also been a small newcomer abused by the various great gods, and was even blackened by reporters because of his poor chinese. Great god Qingyue supported the poorly-performing Pure Cleansing team alone for three years; how heavy had the burden he shouldered alone been? Sister Hong suffered so many grievances under that old hag Xu Lin for over three years, holding out until now, when she finally had the opportunity to chase her dreams.
In comparison with all of them, he had only lost a measly arena competition. What could something as small as this be worth?
Master hadn’t scolded him. God Han, sister Hong, and Li Muran all comforted him. In comparison to the turbulent storms weathered by the great gods, Shen He was already very lucky.
To have doubters appear on Weibo was very normal, because he wasn’t strong enough, and could not shut up those keyboard warriors with his performance.
However, he would one day prove that Qin Mo was not wrong in accepting him as an apprentice.
***
The finals of the three-player arena were scheduled for the next day, Saturday.
The players arrived on time at 8:00pm in the evening. Before the competition had officially begun, the number of people watching the live broadcast had already exceeded 100,000.
In addition to Ye Chao and Liang Ru, there was a third person in the commentary room. The guest commentator was quite short, only coming up to around Ye Chao’s chest. Because there were many snacks before him, he failed to notice when the camera came online, keeping his head lowered to eat cookies.
Noticing the camera, Ye Chao immediately coughed. “Good evening, everyone! You are now watching the live broadcast for the finals!”
Wiping away the crumbs from the corner of his mouth, the guest commentator finally looked up, beaming at the camera lens.
“I would like to introduce our guest commentator to everyone,” Ye Chao continued. “We are very lucky to have the great god Lu Xiang of the Bronze Sparrow club with us here today. Please welcome god Lu!”
We’re sorry for MTLers or people who like using reading mode, but our translations keep getting stolen by aggregators so we’re going to bring back the copy protection. If you need to MTL please retype the gibberish parts.
“Obcu alwf cb rff!” Oe Wljcu ugffafv fnfgsbcf kjgwis.
“Xbv Oe, vlv sbe mbwf ab Dflplcu klat ubv Vtjb sfrafgvjs?” Oljcu Ee jrxfv.
“Tfr!” Oe Wljcu cbvvfv. “Tfrafgvjs’r rfwl-olcji tjv Vtjb Iftjcu jr j uefra mbwwfcajabg, rb P obiibkfv jibcu, jcv lcmlvfcajiis, ifjgcfv tbk ab yf j uefra mbwwfcajabg.” Cr tf rqbxf, tf delmxis rtbnfv atf rcjmxr lcab atf vgjkfg ecvfg atf mbecafg, qgfafcvlcu atja cb bcf tjv rffc.
The audience was stunned speechless. “Xiao Lu is still so greedy!”
“The key point is that he won’t get fat even after eating so many!”
“He looks younger than many of the current players. I’m not used to seeing him guest commentate as a senior!”
“Xiao Lu is still so short! It’s been so many years, but god Lu still holds the record of being the shortest esports player!”
“God Lu is forever 1.6 metres tall!”
“He’s already 1.68 metres~~”
“Don’t laugh at me for being short,” Lu Xiang pouted, “My aura is 1.8 metres tall!”
Ye Chao smiled. “That’s right, that’s right. With god Lu sitting next to me, I feel very oppressed by his powerful aura…” In fact, the smell of snacks made people feel hungry.
Lu Xiang beamed at him, wordlessly praising him for his sensibility before continuing to speak. “Let’s introduce the players on both sides, shall we?”
“Yes,” Liang Ru immediately returned to their original topic. “Today’s finals will be Without Fire’s Nie Yuzhu, Jing Yang and Zhou Yanbing playing against Dynasty’s Sang Jun, Lin Yao, and Wen Hua. Everyone from Without Fire plays a melee profession, while Dynasty has both melee and long-range fighters. However, both sides are of a similar strength.”
“God Lu should have his own experience in the arena, right?” Ye Chao questioned. “Back then, you were an expert guard player.”
“You’re flattering me,” Lu Xiang laughed. “Shao Zehang is even more powerful as a guard player. Naturally, as his apprentice, Nie Yuzhu is also very powerful.”
“Does god Lu think that Without Fire can win the championship?” Liang Ru asked.
“As a team under Huaxia, Dynasty is definitely a strong opponent,” Lu Xiang replied seriously. “Both sides ought to have a 50% chance of winning; the key will be in their arrangements for the match.”
***
Watching from the backstage lounge, Shen He couldn’t help commenting. “Is he the first-generation vice captain of the Bronze Sparrow club? He looks a little small.”
“En,” Xiao Han nodded. “Even though he’s short, he is full of explosive power, and is a rare genius in melee combat. The hot-blooded and radical melee style of Bronze Sparrow was created by him and Shao Zehang. Jing Yang’s talent is said to be comparable to Lu Xiang’s of that year. Furthermore, Nie Yuzhu is also captain Shao’s apprentice. It will be difficult to deal with Without Fire in the team battles later on.”
“Captain Shao was the guest commentator yesterday, and god Lu is today’s guest commentator. Both of Bronze Sparrow’s great gods were invited; it seems like Without Fire will win the championship,” Liu Hong speculated.
Turning around, Xiao Han blinked at her. “You mean, Nie Yuzhu will fight extraordinarily well because a great god from his club is present?”
“Not Nie Yuzhu, but Jing Yang,” Liu Hong explained. “As a newcomer, his state is still unstable. He often plays fast, making it easy to lose control. However, he has a particular characteristic- the greater the pressure placed on him, the stronger his plays. Dynasty’s Sang Jun is already not easy to deal with. Adding on god Lu as today’s guest commentator, Jing Yang may very well perform better than usual today.”
When compared to Xiao Han, Liu Hong was clearly more familiar with matters regarding the Wulin league. Touching his chin, Xiao Han replied, “Jing Yang is indeed a good seedling, but whether he can reach the first-class level will depend on his understanding.”
While they were talking, the game officially began.
The first game was on Dynasty’s home map. Sang Jun chose a swamp map, making it difficult for melee players to fight, before sending in Lin Yao. Captain Nie chose to send Zhou Yanbing in as Without Fire’s first player. Taking advantage of his superior attack range, Lin Yao killed Zhou Yanbing, earning an advantage for his team. This advantage was maintained in subsequent battles, allowing their guard player Sang Jun to win the game.
In the second game, Without Fire simply selected a square arena map, and Nie Yuzhu personally started the game. Under their fierce offensive, Dynasty was unable to reverse the advantage, and was finally defeated.
For the key tiebreaker game, the system randomly selected a maze map.
“Why did the system pick a maze map?” Lu Xiang complained. “Is it because the system knows that this guest commentator’s sense of direction is poor?”
“Is god Lu about to go blind?” Ye Chao smiled.
“En, I can’t tell the difference between the directions.” Lu Xiang rubbed his eyes. “You’d better explain it instead.”
In fact, there was no need for Lu Xiang to say anything, because the pace of the tiebreaker game was extremely fast. Both sides were desperately trying to maximise their output.
Lin Yao began the game against Zhou Yanbing, earning Dynasty a weak 10% blood advantage. As the transition player, Jing Yang was suddenly placed under great pressure. If he failed to recover the advantage, it would be difficult for captain Nie to win against Sang Jun in the guard round.
Liu Hong’s prediction before the game really came true. Placed under this great pressure, Jing Yang’s output suddenly exploded in a terrifying manner. In that instant, his hand speed broke past his previous record, rapidly smashing into the keys as he hit the opponent…
Seeing this, Ye Chao was very surprised. “It seems that Jing Yang is indeed a player with great potential. The power of his outbreak is really terrible!”
“But he isn’t stable enough,” Liang Ru pointed out. “No one knows when he will break through his limits.”
“Xiao Jing’s hand speed is too fast. Because he hasn’t fully mastered using his fast hand speed to attack efficiently, his performance in this competition fluctuated between good and bad,” Lu Xiang explained, smiling. “However, I believe that when he breaks through this bottleneck, he will become Without Fire’s strongest fighter.”
Due to Jing Yang’s sudden outbreak, Wen Hua was caught off guard, and the original 10% blood volume advantage was recovered by the opponent. Without Fire even gained a blood volume advantage of 20%. With his steady playstyle, Nie Yuzhu maintained this advantage against Sang Jun, winning his team the championship for this arena competition.
“Nie Yuzhu has finally won a championship!” Lu Xiang cheered excitedly. “It should give him more confidence!”
“Didn’t captain Nie win many championships in the Wulin league?” Ye Chao questioned.
“That’s different,” Lu Xiang waved his hand. “Back in the Wulin league, he was at his peak state when he won those championships. Now, his condition isn’t as good as before. To win a championship under these conditions is definitely a lot more difficult than winning championships in the Wulin league.”
“Indeed,” Liang Ru agreed, “As a veteran, captain Nie is really worthy of respect.”
Stunned, Lu Xiang scratched his head. “He’s already considered an ‘old veteran’?! I suddenly feel like I’m about to become an antique…”
“Not at all,” Ye Chao laughed. “God Lu is very young, and will remain eighteen years old forever.”
The audience immediately started spamming comments. “God Lu is very little, and doesn’t look old at all!”
“Even though captain Shao’s apprentice is being called ‘Old Nie’, you still can’t escape the fate of being called ‘Xiao Lu’!”
Although he was from the same generation as Nie Yuzhu’s master, he looked younger than Nie Yuzhu…
Lu Xiang, who would never grow tall, tactfully ignored these comments and changed the topic. “Up next will be the match to decide our third place victor, Mojue VS Frost Moon!”
“The players from both sides have already entered the stage,” Ye Chao announced, cooperating with the change in topics. “From Mojue, we have Liu Hong, Shen He, and Xiao Han. From Frost Moon, we have Chen Jiang, He Yue, and Rong Haibin.”
“Unfortunately, Mojue lost to Without Fire in yesterday’s semifinals, and failed to qualify for the finals.” Liang Ru sighed. “In fact, the teams in third place and fourth place will receive the same number of points. However, the team in third place will receive an additional trophy. I believe that both sides will definitely go all out for this.”
Liang Ru’s words echoed Shen He’s thoughts exactly. Regardless of whether they won or lost, Mojue would still earn 10 points in this competition. However, being third meant that they could stand on the podium, while being fourth only gave them points. In any case, he would do his best in today’s competition.
Debugging the equipment, Xiao Han asked. “Xiao He, is it okay if I send you up first in our home game?”
“No problem!” Shen He agreed.
“Very good,” Xiao Han replied, “Then, I will choose an obstacle map. Make good use of it.”
Shen He nodded. “En!”
After both sides completed their preparations, the referee asked the team leaders to roll the dice. Having gotten a higher score, Xiao Han received priority in selecting maps. He quickly selected ‘Dragon Gate Stone Array’ from the map library, simultaneously submitting the name of his first player: Shen He.
Watching the broadcast from Mojue’s training room, Zhu Qingyue couldn’t help but speak up. “If the starting player does not do well, it will be more difficult for the players behind. I hope Xiao He has prepared himself.”
“I believe that he will be able to adjust,” Qin Mo replied calmly. “Even if he isn’t as explosive as Jing Yang, he ought to be able to play at his usual level.”
Li Muran continued staring at the screen—— he was very clear that after yesterday’s blow, Shen He would definitely not disappoint everyone.
I didn’t expect Without Fire to win against the Dynasty team! Since Sang Jun was there i thought he could think of something… Seems like i guessed wrong ahh~ 😩😑
Mojue still can take the third place!!! Fighting! ᕙﾉ•̀ʖ•́ﾉ୨
Thank you for the chapter~~! 💜💜💜
It’s time for Without Fire to shine, I think they screen time just a few, lol 🤣
Fighting Mojue!!
You’re welcome~ ❤
it was mentioned that sang jun is a strong output but not invincible. his main strength actually lies in tactics, just like qin mo. both of them have strong outputs but they’re not at the top of the list of explosive outputs, rather their best point is their tactics. so it’s not really surprising the without fire won, especially that a genius player like jing yang (who was comparable to lu xiang when he was at his peak back then) was in their team
Shen He, gambare finger crossed
Thank you for the chapter
Fighting Shen He!! 🤩
You’re welcome~ ❤
Xiao He Fighting!!Ｏ(≧▽≦)Ｏ
Thanks for the chapter ~
More cheer for Shen He!!! 🤩
You’re welcome~ ❤
liu chuan’s first apprentice, a direction idiot and a gluttonous lu xiang is here!! he’s still a foodie as ever!! and i’m not surprise that he’s here, because wherever shao zehang goes, he would definitely be there!!